“Natural” Resources Land Conservation Ignores Archaeological Resources?

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Natural resources conservation arrangements, including easements on land, have existed in the US for many years, with origins in the Conservation Movement dating to the time and efforts of T.R. Roosevelt. In recent years, the land conservation movement has grown across the US, and often involves support from national, state and local governments partnering with non-profit organizations. Factors such as climate change, for example, are increasingly in the mix for the goal to protect land from development that harms plants, animals, and ecology that otherwise would exist as a “natural” system benefiting air, water, and other conditions for sustaining quality of life. In this presentation I will discuss why I occasionally put the term “natural” in scare-quotes, the physical impacts of natural resources conservation, some major players and programs, and why I believe protection of archaeological sites often is on the losing end of natural resources conservation arrangements, particularly where federal funding is involved. I will cite some examples such as from the US Department of Defense, and also touch on Native American involvement regarding this issue.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 41659.0